Writing and Writing Instruction in Different Academic Contexts
“IS THAT PLAGIARISM?” A PLAGIARISM AWARENESS CAMPAIGN AS SOCIAL CHANGE INITIATIVE
Henk Louw
NorthWest University, Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa
The Influencer Model of Patterson et al (2008) describe change in behaviour as a matter of motivation and ability on three levels – personal, social and structural. The model was used as starting point to plan a plagiarism awareness campaign. As a first step, a questionnaire distributed to the 16000 fulltime students on campus and 800 academic staff yielded insight into the differences in perception, knowledge and treatment of plagiarism between students and staff. The data from the questionnaire indicates that students are generally well aware of what plagiarism is in theory and are generally against its occurrence, but inadvertent plagiarism still occurs due to a lack of specific knowledge and practised skill as well as inconsistent treatment by staff. Based on the findings, a more accurately targeted campaign and pedagogical interference emphasizing applicable skills and addressing knowledge gaps, could be planned and executed in collaboration with university authorities. This presentation briefly discusses how the Influencer Model was used as analysis tool to guide questionnaire creation, where after the major findings from the questionnaire are discussed as well as the actions taken (or to be taken) based on these findings. A major issue to be raised is the relation between theoretical knowledge and its translation to realworld actions.
References
Patterson, K, Grenny, J, Maxfield, D, McMillan, R and Switzler, A. 2008. Influencer – the power to change anything. New York: McGrawHill